I can see a Red Kite from my Northamptonshire home every day of the year. I often pause to look at them even though I see them more often than I see a Buzzard or a Kestrel. I pause because they are just wonderful birds but also because they are a conservation success story –…
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Complaint to Defra
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I complained to Defra about the fact that they took over 5 months to reply to an enquiry from my MP- see here. I received this reply this week: Dear Dr Avery, Thank you for your email of 25 January, regarding your complaint about the time taken to respond to your MP, Tom Pursglove, who…
Response from my MP
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I wrote to Defra (see following blog) and my MP (see here) about the fact that Defra took over 5 months to respond to an enquiry from my MP on my behalf. I received this response: Dear Mark,Thank you for your email.I was sorry to hear that you were dissatisfied with the length of response…
Sunday book review – Cruel Intentions by Alan Stewart
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This is the sequel to the excellent Calls from the Wild (reviewed here). PC Bob McKay gets to tackle more wildlife crimes such as Fox hunting and deer poaching. Grouse moors, and their shady managers, play large parts in this volume along with bothered Beavers, baited Badgers and disturbed dolphins. Alan Stewart writes very well…
Sunday book review – Collins Bird Guide (3rd edition) by Lars Svensson, Killian Mullarney and Dan Zetterstrom
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An identification guide is a functional thing – it exists so that the reader (or looker) can put a name, they hope the right name, to some creature. These are not the books that one picks up to read, or re-read over the years. They are the books one takes out into the field and…
Letter to my MP
Dear Mr Pursglove, Happy New Year! Thank you for the letter, dated 20 January from Defra which you passed on to me and I received yesterday. I am grateful to you for your efforts on my behalf. However, the letter was in response to your letter on 18 August when you forwarded my letter to…
Low Standards at Defra – I complain
Defra Service Standards Adjudicator I wrote to my MP on 10 August last year about the failure of Defra to respond properly to a parliamentary petition. My MP, Tom Pursglove, forwarded my letter to George Eustice (then Secretary of State, Defra) on 18 August. Yesterday, 24 January, I received a reply from Defra (from Trudy…
Guest blog – Calling it for what it is by Ian Parsons
Ian Parsons spent twenty years as a ranger before running his own wildlife tour business. He now writes books and articles on wildlife. He has contributed many articles to this blog (see here). His book A Vulture Landscape (reviewed here) was published by Whittles Publishing in 2020, this was followed by Seasonality in 2022 (reviewed…
Sunday book review – The Peregrine Falcon by Richard Sale and Steve Watson
This is a monumental book about what is regarded as the fastest animal on the planet (or flying over it). At over 500 pages, and amply and attractively illustrated, this is a tribute to and reference source about a marvellous bird. The brilliance of this bird is well captured in many of the photographs but…
Guest blog – A Year of Mixed Fortunes for Scotland’s Beavers by Tom Bowser
Tom Bowser is the owner of Argaty and author of A Sky Full of Kites: A Rewilding Story (reviewed here). Argaty is a working farm based on the Braes of Doune in central Scotland. It has been home to the Bowser family since 1916. The farm has two aims: to produce food in an environmentally…